Hegseth honors military Olympians at the Pentagon after the Milan Cortina Games

A group of 10 American Olympians who served in the US military were honored at the Pentagon on April 17.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, in the middle of leading the Iran war effort, found time to meet with the athletes at a ceremony honoring their achievements at the Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina. All 10 were members of the US military-sponsored World Class Sports Program (WCAP).

“It’s not every day you get invited to the office of Sec. War,” US acting director Frankie Del Duca told Fox News Digital. “We had a good discussion about the Army.”

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Del Duca carried the flag for the US Olympic Team in Cortina back in February. As an Italian-American, it was very important to him and his family to have respect in Italy.

Del Duca is also a US Army infantryman.

“I’m a child,” he said. “There are different assignments that I can take as I gain knowledge. I am very grateful for the opportunity to serve. I am very proud to serve our country, and I love our country and America.”

Hegseth himself was a Marine Corps officer who served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay.

But so far Del Duca has only done athletic work for the military, enlisting in 2019 and training as a bobsledder in Lake Placid, New York. But as a WCAP athlete, he will also play a military-related role.

“We’ve had WCAP members who were in the Army first… and then we’ve had some who will probably do that later,” Del Duca said, adding that he falls into the “back” group.

“Where I might be stationed next, and where I might be, different assignments, where I might end up, I’ll take those same lessons that I’ve learned and apply them to that next unit. So it’s something I’m very grateful for and I’m proud of. And I hope that spreads throughout our country. I hope it shows that we’re together and that we can resist, that we endure.”

Del Duca is a young father of two sons, each less than four years old.

“It made me a better father,” Del Duca said of his experience in the Army. “I have two sons, [ages] one and three, they keep me on my toes.”

Other branches of the military are well represented in WCAP, especially the Air Force.

Team USA skeleton athlete Kelly Curtis, who was also honored at the event, is preparing to be sent to Italy after competing in the Milan Cortina Games.

War Sec. Pete Hegseth poses with 10 WCAP Olympians at the Pentagon (Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Eric Brann)

“I’m going back to the 31st communications group at Aviano Air Base,” Curtis told Fox News Digital. “I’m an information services professional… it’s basically like an information traffic cop.”

Curtis says he has a lineage in his family, on his mother’s side, that includes members of the military in every American war dating back to the Revolutionary War.

He thought that his brother would take the job of his generation. And he did, but he soon learned that he was sharing with her.

“I didn’t think I could serve in the military,” Curtis said. “When this opportunity came when I was successful enough in sports. I was looking at the military program, but when I talked with my brother who had worked in the Air Force, I decided to go to the Air Force.”

Now, as he continues his family’s tradition of serving in the US military during wartime, he feels honored by the importance.

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“I don’t think there is a more honorable time than another,” he said. “When I took the oath of enlistment, you sign up to defend your country, and that’s something I take very seriously. The work I do with the World Class Athlete Program is different, it’s a soft conversation, so I don’t see a lot that my colleagues might see…

“There is honor all around when you sign up to defend your country.”

The WCAP program presents a medal for Team USA in 2026, including Air Force women’s bobsledder Jasmine Jones.

Jones became a social media darling in an interview with Fox News Digital when he expressed great pride in representing the US on the world stage, at a time when many Americans longed for patriotism among their Olympians.

Jones then went on to win bronze in the women’s bobsled, alongside Olympic legend Kaillie Humphries, helping Humphries become the most decorated athlete in history.

Jones was honored with his medal during a ceremony at the Pentagon.

“I was honored to be honored by Secretary Hegseth after receiving the medal in Cortina and participating in that time representing my country,” Jones told Fox News Digital.

“Being an Airman allows me to work in more than one way, and I appreciate that opportunity. The unity on our WCAP team is strong. We lead by example, we support each other, and we continue to push each other to reach our full potential.”

Meanwhile, the military as a whole continues historic operations in the Middle East behind the leadership of Hegseth and President Donald Trump.

Hegseth warned on Friday that US forces would “shoot to destroy” any Iranian ships laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

“President Trump has authorized the US military to destroy any Iranian boats that attempt to lay mines in the waters or disrupt the passage through the Strait of Hormuz, to shoot and kill,” Hegseth said. “Our administration has clear rules of engagement. If Iran plants mines in the waters or threatens American commercial ships or American forces, we will shoot and destroy them. We have no doubt. Like drug boats in the Caribbean.”

Hegseth also said that Iran’s “defeated” military, particularly the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, had been “reduced to a group of flag-wielding criminals.”

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“Their anger is masked by slogans, but the world now sees them as what they are — pirates at sea. They don’t control anything. They pretend to be criminals, they act like terrorists. They are the ones who lay mines indiscriminately, shoot ships indiscriminately, kill 45,000 bad people in their weeks, they are bad people, their bad people, bad people in their weeks. Actors,” said Hegseth.

“The ships captured by the Iranians in recent days, a couple of them, are not American ships, they are not Israeli ships. They are just random ships where they have driven their small speed boats and shot at those ships with AK-47s. Anyone with a speed boat, a gun and the wrong targets can do that. They know. Their real soldiers are under the Arabian Gulf,” Hegseth added.

Trump and his administration have made it clear repeatedly that they want a peace deal with Iran, and have expressed hope of reaching one soon.

Hegseth also said on Friday, “Iran has a historic opportunity to make a critical deal, and the ball is in their court.”

“Either way, the Department of Defense is ready for what’s next. Locked and loaded,” Hegseth added.

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The comments came after a planned second round of US-Iran talks in Islamabad failed to take place this week. Vice President JD Vance and the rest of the American delegation never left. Reports indicated that the Iranians said they would not negotiate again in person until the US lifted its embargo.

Vance, US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, went to Pakistan for the first round of talks with the Iranians earlier this month, but no agreement was reached.

Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman-Diamond, Landon Mion, Emma Bussey, Efrat Lachter, Alex Nitzberg and Jasmine Baehr contributed to this report.

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